Do you have that one customer that cannot be pleased or causes you too much time and energy?
Today with competition in the marketplace what it is, it's hard to think you would fire actually fire a customer. But, there is another theory. What if you fired that customer and spent all the time you would normally spend on that customer nurturing your good relationships and reaching new customers? But before you go firing your customers, you should ask yourself a few questions. The very first question should be if there is anything you could do to make the relationship better? Is this a highly profitable customer? Is this customer influential within the community that you do business? Are they a repeat purchaser of your products or services? Do they pay a fair price for a fair product/service? Do you need this customer to survive? If you answered yes to any of these, you may want to reconsider and try to work with that customer. It is easier to retain an existing customer than it is to reach a new one. All good relationships take a lot of work and fostering to make them successful. There are some warning signs of a truly bad customer. Does the customer pay late consistently? Is the customer overly aggressive with your people? Does the customer require a lot of rework? Do they cost you a significant amount of time? Do they ask for unwarranted refunds? Does the customer ask for things not in your scope of work? These are a little more obvious and alone most can still be serviced. And I would encourage you to work towards a solution that works for you both. But if your customer has many of these you'll have to actually sit down and figure out the math. Add up your profitability from this customer vs. the actual cost of doing business with this customer. Should you decide to end your relationship, do it with class and professionalism. The world is small and you never know when you will be re-establishing commerce with them again in the future.
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We all seem to recharge every year. Whether you have personal goals or professional ones, this time of year is perfect for making some decisions and sticking with them. I use this time of year to evaluate my business and see what I can change for next year that will improve my customer relationships, my packaging, and my marketing. Below are a few ideas for you to consider for your business.
1. Get organized. It is so easy to get bogged down searching for things instead of just being organized and know ing exactly where your files are. There are many ways to get organized.
2. Get your goals back on track. Take a look at what your goals were last year and see what you missed or what was successful for you. Then adjust. Make yourself a list and stay focused on what you want to accomplish. In order to be successful, they need to be realistic goals. Make sure you look at that list everyday to keep it at the top of your mind. 3. Learn to delegate. It is hard for us business owners who want to do everything so it gets done right. But you are only one person. And if you are already working many hours during the day, you will have to make some choices. Either work harder and more organized or delegate some of your tasks to someone else. It's that simple. 4. Find one new way of connecting with your customers. Whether you choose to go mobile, social networking or joining a local organization, they are all successful. It is because people like to know exactly who they are doing business with. If you're out and about, even online, meeting new people, you are going to gain awareness. 5. Give back to the community. This is one of mine this year. I have a goal of volunteering at 4 events in our city this year. You should pick where you want to make a difference and really give it your all. But again, make realistic goals. Or you will just disappoint yourself. 6. Time for yourself. Make sure you have time to recharge and refresh. Whether you need one day monthly or a couple of hours weekly. Do what you need to do to stay smart and healthy. 7. Drop what fails. If you have something that is holding your company back, an employee, procedure, product, etc. Get rid of it and make the change to something successful. 8. Shop small. You are a small business. You want people to shop your small business. So shop theirs. Buy local and shop in the small local businesses in your town. You will find the practice reciprocated. 9. Waste Less. I keep this one on the list, because it is so easy to control the waste. Get your statements and bills sent electronically. Reuse items that can be washed. I hope you are inspired to make positive changes in your business this year. Happy New Years to all, may all your hard work pay off and fill you with warmth and prosperity! 'Tis the time of year for corporate holiday card ordering and mailing planning. And how do you plan from beginning to end the process of this excellent opportunity? You use our simple guide. I say opportunity because, the holidays are a great way to personally "touch" your customer. The whole idea behind the greeting card is to personally wish another a wonderful holiday season. So, you're riding the happy, warm wave of holiday wishes. No better wave to ride with your logo and a personal message.
First, you need cards. Don't go buying the standard cards you can find in a card store. You need something quality and professional and printed just for you. You don't want to send a second rate anything with your logo on it. Choose something nice and tasteful. You want to keep your warm message generic and unless you are a religious oriented company, make sure you keep religion out of it. This is out of respect for your customer's beliefs. And try to keep t keep humor out of it. You may think you're being clever and inadvertently insult a client. Santa in an outhouse sounds funny, but doesn't look all that professional to a customer. And doesn't help your business image. The next thing you need is a list. Who should be on that list? You want to reach your current customers, prospective customers, and old customers. Give everyone warm wishes. And make sure that list is accurate and up-to-date. What you do not want to have happen is to waste a bunch of money on return to senders. So, have someone verify your list. Make sure your list contains business addresses and not home addresses. Unless you have a home based business, then it's perfectly acceptable. At that point, you would still address it to the business. A personal touch to the inside. That's right. You need to physically sign your name. And anyone you would like to send the card from needs to physically sign it. Do not print the signatures, everyone will know it was printed. Also, the proper etiquette is to write a hand written personal message. Something short and sweet. Do not include your business card or brochure. There are other mailings for that. A personal touch to the envelope. You're not quite done yet. The right way is always the most manually intense way! You should never meter your holiday cards. Always use a generic holiday stamp. And then, yes.... hand write the address. And make sure you have the person with the best handwriting do it. The ones that get delivered and look like a 3rd grader did them, are not that impressive. But worse would be to print labels. Do not print your labels. A time to send. Absolutely there is a wrong time to send. the wrong time is too early and too late. You want to send them by December 15th. The exceptions are if your sending out of the country and if your customer's offices will be closed for the holiday. You want to make sure anything send internationally leave around the 5th of December. If you're sending to a company that is closing early, make sure they receive it a week before their offices close. May your holiday greeting go well. If you are interested in purchasing quality printed cards, click here. We will design a beautiful and appropriate card for you. Have you ever asked yourself, does the time of day matter when sending out an email campaign? Or even the day of the week? You were right to ask, because apparently it does. When I was researching this issue for myself, I came across some pretty helpful information, which ultimately changed my behaviors as far as email marketing. I want to share them with you.
People's routines drive these stats, which I found extremely interesting. When are people really focused on email? Mornings between 8am and 9am for opens and click-throughs. This is when people are just getting into work and settling in for their day. Afternoons 3pm to 8pm for opens & 3pm to 4pm for click-throughs. This is the after lunch time, when people are getting back into their afternoon routine. Almost 40% of all messages are sent between 6am and noon, creating inbox clutter. This is where your message can get lost. 23.63% of all email opens occur within the first hour after delivery. The results drop by half within the second hour after delivery. Within the 3rd hour, they drop another 30%. 5 hours after delivery, the results drop more than 90%. So you want to send your email to arrive at the recipients desk no later than 1 hour before top open times. Which are morning 8am to 9am and early afternoon 3pm to 4pm. Most emails are in your inbox in the morning, so the ones that get sent in the afternoon have more of a chance at being noticed, opened and clicked. Now, what day of the week for best effectiveness? Only Monday to Wednesday. Thursday and Friday are no go. You will not get the most out of your campaign. Other facts: 5:00 pm, most people are on their way home 6:00 pm, most people are eating 7:00 pm, most people are bathing children 8:00 pm, people to start reading email again So, don't send an email on Friday at 5pm. No one will hear it :) I want to share an event coming up. Come join us in a relaxed, casual environment and talk about your business. The event will be held at Downtown Melbourne's Debauchery, on November 7, 2012 from 5pm to 8pm. You can visit www.brevardconnections.com to learn more or to participate and promote your own venture. We look forward to seeing you there. The benefits of networking are huge. There is no better return on investment than a face to face meeting and exchange of information. You may give your card to someone that does not need your services, but they may meeting someone that does. They will then forward your card/info. Networking does not mean you have to sign up with a group, although it does help. Networking is keeping your eyes and ears open to whats going on around you and meeting as many people as you can. Think the girl at the cash register is just a cashier? Well, she might be in college right now and will need your services in the future or she might have a boyfriend that owns a sign company. Keep your mind and ears open. And connect others when you see a fit. They will return the favor. When you hear customer service, you always think about the consumer. The person from outside the company that buys or uses the products and services we offer. But internal customer service is just as important. It's how you treat your employees or co-workers within the organization. It effects everyone that is employed by the company. How you treat your employees or how they treat each other is considered internal customer service. The idea behind it is that the most important employee you have is probably the least paid. They are the people on the front lines taking care of your customers. They should be treated with just as much respect as the president or owner. And your executives, managers and assistant managers should be trained to do the same. Think about it. You want the person on the front lines to be happy, so they are happy to customers. You want them to feel comfortable , so they are comfortable with your customers. If you treat that person badly or with disrespect, how do you think they will treat customers when you're not there. It comes down to this, if your people are happy, they are going to treat your customers well and spread happy thoughts and comments, which will in turn produce more sales. Know your competition
Something people seem to overlook is their business' competition. It's easy to get caught up in your own business, let alone try to figure out what's going on with your competition. The importance of knowing where your competition stands effects so many aspects of business. You want to know exactly what you're up against and how to gain your share of the market. How do you get the information? You talk to people and ask questions. You physically go to see your competition. You take a look at their website and other pages to see how they represent themselves. Know your market Every market has a different personality. In order to really understand your market, you have to not only participate in it, you have to understand buyer's behaviors in your market. Why and when do people buy? Is it price, is it service, is it selection? All important questions that you need to know in order to succeed in that market. Know your strengths/weaknesses Once you know the competition's weaknesses, you'll be able to find your strengths. Also, a great way to find your strengths is by talking to your existing customers. They will tell you why they do business with you. They want to. And they like to give feedback. You also need to know your weaknesses, because you'll want to try to eliminate those altogether. Those are good though, because they give you goals and things for your to do list. Here is an example of using your strengths (true story) . There is a new company offering IT services. Their competition is a big box store that has a similar service. The big box charges twice as much as the new company. The big box store has the dollars to market the service better than the new IT business, however, they are charging retail prices. The new business will use this to their advantage. With advertising that starts with "Don't pay retail for IT." They are able to offer better service with more offerings for a much smaller price. That is the big store's weakness, price. Basically, you are spotting a weakness and using it to your benefit by highlighting your strength. Other aspects that have just as much importance are quality merchandise, better service, selection, even turnaround times. Let's talk about a sense of urgency. Have you ever been in a store and you've asked one of the employees to help you get a price and they seemed like they are moving at the speed of molasses? It can be very aggravating, especially if you're in a hurry.
You are way more impressive to a client/customer if you are considerate of their time. Basically, I don't believe that my time is more important than your time, but I want my time to be considered. Now, lets talk about how a sense of urgency can help your sales. For my business, there is a lot of customer communication. It usually starts with a customer requesting prices for printing and design. If I were to sit on those requests, another print shop would ultimately get the jobs. What I do, is make the pricing very high priority. That way, when they receive my price and they haven't yet received prices from my competitor, that gives me time to sell it. Usually, my customers make a decision about buying at the time of the quote. So why would I sit on those prices and wreck my chances? I don't, I use my sense of urgency to get it to them right away. And I do the same with general inquiries. My business is not that different from other businesses as far as selling and they are the same rules across the board. When a customer is shopping for services, they are ready to buy. If you sit on the inquiry, someone like me is going to pick them up as a customer. When inquiries come in, you need to look at those as potentially new lifelong clients and get them the info they request quickly. I have a customer who has a great model for print advertising reinforcement and I wanted to share it. It's a wonderful and effective way to get the most out of your print advertising. Dan Taylor of A Advanced Hearing Care, is a great example on how to reinforce advertising while building credibility and brand. Every month I come up with ads for AAHC, which includes a catchy headline, art and his business information, all usual stuff. And Dan comes up with the reinforcement. The thing that is so special about him is that Dan is not only a audiologist, he is a writer. So, for each of his print ads, he writes a story to accompany it somewhere in the periodical as well as in his blog. He's not selling hearing aids in the articles. He writes about hearing aids, care and general information. So he is selling without selling.
With the articles, it helps keep the site ranked high for original content as well as adding to the credibility of both Dan and the business. Not to mention the fact that the articles are filled with helpful information for the hearing impaired, family of the hearing impaired, as well as other hearing professionals in the industry. He has a good following, making his advertising even more effective. Below is the ad we chose for the month of September. To read more about Dan or A Advanced hearing care, please click here. What is the 5 mile rule? It is a rule that says you should not spend advertising dollars in any market outside your 5 mile radius.
The 5 mile rule applies to many types of businesses. Why? Because people want to purchase locally. They don't want to drive 2o miles for insurance when there is an insurance company 2 miles down the road. If you were to plot your customers on a map, you will find that at least 85% of your customers do not travel more than 5 miles to get to your business. So, why would you spend advertising dollars over 5 miles away? You shouldn't. You should advertise locally and make sure that you're not wasting dollars on trying to get people to travel to your business. I use this rule in my own advertising and when I advertise for my customers. This is a great advertising "rule of thumb" because it will save advertising dollars. If you think of the distance that you would normally go to the bank or other retail shops that you frequent, chances are, nothing is over the 5 mile mark. There are a few exceptions, but not many. It really depends on the type of business you have and whether you can talk your customers into traveling. |
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